Patricia Burch – Hidden Markets: The New Education Privatization

Education is rapidly becoming a $1 trillion industry, representing 10% of America’s GNP and second in size only to the health care industry. Federal and State expenditures on education exceed $750 billion. Education companies, with over $80 billion in annual revenues, already constitute a large sector in the education arena. Th e education industry plays an increasingly important role in supporting public education by meeting the demand for products and services that both complement and supplement basic education services.

Across the U.S., test publishers, software companies, and research firms are swarming to take advantage of the revenues made available by the No Child Left Behind Act. In effect, the education industry has assumed a central place in the day-to-day governance and administration of public schools – a trend that has gone largely unnoticed by policymakers or the press until now. Drawing on analytic tools, Hidden Markets examines specific domains that the education industry has had particular influence on – home schooling, remedial instruction, management consulting, test development, data management, and staff development. Burch’s analysis demonstrates that only when we subject the education industry to systematic and in-depth critical analysis can we begin to demand more corporate accountability and organize to halt the slide of education funds into the market.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Trends and Origins
Chapter 2. Inside the Market
Chapter 3. Privatization and its Intermediaries
Chapter 4. Shadow Privatization: Local Experiences with Supplemental Education Services
Chapter 5. Invisible Influences: For-Profit Firms and Virtual Charter Schools
Chapter 6. In the Interstices: Benchmark Assessments, District Contracts, and NCLB
Chapter 7. Working for Transparency

About the Author

Patricia Burch is Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies at University of Wisconsin—Madison.

Details:

Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (January 12, 2009)
Author: Patricia Burch
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0415955661
ISBN-13: 978-0415955669